GILLETTE TO CONTINUE AD CLAIMS FOR POWER RAZOR

Will Not Change Wording Despite Court Injunction

CINCINNATI (AdAge.com) -- Gillette Co. says it can and will continue to claim that its vibrating M3 Power razor "stimulates hair up and away from skin" despite an injunction by a U.S. District Court earlier this week, ordering it to stop using an animation that shows the razor changing the angle of hair, a spokeswoman said.

Current TV ads haven't included either claim, but packaging can and will continue to carry the "up and away" word claim, which the court found unconvincing and unsupported by Gillette research but also concluded was not proved false by Energizer Holdings' Schick unit in its lawsuit against Gillette.

No finding of literal falsity
"While there can be no finding of literal falsity with respect to Gillette's hair extension claim at this stage in the instant litigation, the court expresses doubt about that claim," the ruling said. "As described earlier, Gillette's own testing is suspect."

The ruling went on to say that Schick introduced expert testimony and elicited testimony from Gillette's expert regarding "lack of scientific foundation for any biological mechanism that would explain the effect described by Gillette in its advertising."

Burden of proof
That did not, however, meet Schick's burden in proving falsity of the hair-extension word claim, the court ruled.

Energizer Holdings can continue to seek to prove the word claim false during full trial on its lawsuit, in which it's seeking compensation from Gillette for loss of market share and punitive damages, tapping the company's profits from what's been the best-selling new home and personal-care product of the past year, according to Information Resources Inc. Schick contends its projected sales for its rival Quattro would reach $100 million during the first year, but that it fell short of that target by $20 million at least in part because of M3 Power's ad claims, the ruling said.

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Jack Neff

Jack Neff, editor at large, covers household and personal-care marketers, Walmart and market research. He's based near Cincinnati and has previously written for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Bloomberg, and trade publications covering the food, woodworking and graphic design industries and worked in corporate communications for the E.W. Scripps Co.